


when the stars go out, all the world is quiet

by lostinthefire



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Bittersweet Ending, M/M, Sad Fluff, quiet apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-18
Updated: 2016-01-18
Packaged: 2018-05-14 18:15:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5753368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostinthefire/pseuds/lostinthefire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even at the end of the world, there can be a chance for peace.</p>
            </blockquote>





	when the stars go out, all the world is quiet

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Fandom Snowflake. It was the first thing I've written this year and I am okay with that.

It took them both time to realize that there was nothing to be done. There was fighting, plotting, terror and grief. There was mourning when all hadn't been lost yet. There was rebellion and there was forgetting and there was, after a certain point, a soft silence that settled over everything. 

It was not a companionable silence, although it wasn't harsh and uncertain either. It was the silence that meant this was it, this was all they had left and to go out with a bang would be noisy and not needed and yet to go with a whimper, a soft sound of regret or fear, wouldn't matter either.

Most of the group had vanished already, the darkness consuming them and making everything they had been vanish into blackness. Steve still lingered, as did he. There was no getting rid of them, at least not yet, not while they still had the lights on.

Bucky was silent as they watched the sky. There weren't stars anymore, no pretty lights to guide them. The street was just as black, and when they looked out onto the city below them, it felt more like they were on a dark ocean, sailing alone with no hope of finding land.

There's still sun sometimes, every few twenty-four hour periods. It's coming less and less though and both of them know at some point it will end. The sun won't rise, the lights will run out and there won't be anything keeping the dark from encroaching in on the weird little haven they've made for themselves.

Because despite everything, the silence had been nice, had been a welcome break from the stress of speech and the constant ache that came with social contact. At the end of the world, when everything is too busy falling away, there's little reason have a lot of interaction with those who you don't actually care about.

He and Steve are curled up in bed together, lights flickering a little but he's not scared. If this was to be the end, he wouldn't complain. It could be so much worse, so much more lonely and painful and terrifying.

This? This would be a peaceful oblivion 

(If the world is ending, if everything is in fade-out mode, does that mean the afterlife is a thing that no longer exists? Or is there some rule in the universe that says that the worlds beyond don't apply. Does it even mater? 

(He doesn't think so.)

Steve brushes a kiss to his temple and he makes a soft noise of approval, picking up his head to leave a kiss against his lips. They're so gentle these days, quiet and resting as they wait. No frantic kisses, no desperate hands. Everything is slower, lazy almost and they take their time while they have of it.

The lights continued to flicker, sputtering more and more like candles in the wind. His heart picked up a little, not much but enough that he notices, and he wonders if fear is creeping over him. If that, in the last moments they have, he won't be able to be anything but scared that it's all over.

But Steve seems to pick it up too, and wraps his arms tighter around Bucky, holding him close and nuzzling into his hair as his hands rub circles into his back.

it's going to be okay, his motions said. Don't worry about what's coming.

He listens, putting his faith in Steve again, letting him convince him that this is all they have, that this bed, these lights, their hands on each other, are the only things that matter.

Bucky closes his eyes, taking in a breath, and leaves a kiss on Steve's jaw.

After that, he sees the lights flicker but this time, they don't spark to life again. This time everything is black.

He kept his eyes shut and holds on tight, counting down the seconds until he can't any more.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me elsewhere:  
> [My DW](http://rootsofthestories.dreamwidth.org) (which I use regularly)  
> [My Tumblr](http://analtarofstars.tumblr.com/) (which I am very rarely on)  
> [My Twitter](http://twitter.com/harvestgraces) (which I am on at random)


End file.
